Steerpike

Oh dear. Just hours after Keir Starmer was touting Labour as a government-in-waiting, he lost his first frontbencher over the ongoing Gaza conflict. Imran Hussain last night quit as Shadow Minister for the New Deal for Working People, after eight years serving as a party spokesman. Hussain was one of fifteen Labour frontbenchers who have called for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine. Will others now follow suit? In his resignation letter to Starmer, Hussain said: 'Over recent weeks, it has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted... I believe the party needs to go further and call for a ceasefire.

It’s the King’s Speech tomorrow and all of Westminster can barely contain itself. A new monarch might be on the throne, but the usual pre-briefing game hasn’t changed, with press stories aplenty as to the draft laws that are likely to be included. One bill that is set to be announced tomorrow is legislation to implement the gradual smoking ban announced by Rishi Sunak at this year's Conservative Party conference.  Much has been made of the public’s support for such a move, but if Sunak hopes it will energise his base, he ought to think again. For polling of 696 members by the Tory news site ConservativeHome suggests that the generation smoking ban was the least important of ten issues floated for inclusion in the King’s Speech.

Nadine Dorries continues to make waves in Westminster. One episode she references in her book concerns shocking claims that the Tory party 'covered up' incidents of sexual misconduct by one of its own MPs. Today's Mail on Sunday reports that Sir Jake Berry, who served as chairman between September and October 2022, wrote to the police shortly after taking office. His letter revealed that a number of allegations about the MP had been made to the party, but that only limited action had been taken. Berry reportedly uncovered the scandal when he discovered that the party had paid for one of the alleged victims to receive treatment at a private hospital.

A new row is dominating Holyrood’s corridors of power. What is it this time? War, famine, the never-ending ferries crisis? No, far more important: desk allocation in the Scottish parliament. Yes, it seems that the prospect of, er, being next door to Ash Regan has thrown the Scottish Greens into something of a tizzy. Following her shock defection to Alba last weekend, the onetime SNP leadership contender now has to find a new office. But the only space available is unfortunately on the same floor as her erstwhile coalition partners. Now there are reports that transgender Green staff members have raised concerns about their potential proximity to the gender critical politician. Poor dears.

Another day and another Labour U-turn. The current crisis in Gaza has split the Starmer Army as they walk the thin line between supporting Israel and not alienating their core vote. The current total of Labour MPs who are calling for ceasefire – in breach of party policy – now stands at 65, a third of the total parliamentary party. There has been much anger over Sir Keir's disastrous LBC interview in which he appeared to suggest that Israel 'has the right' to withhold water and power from Gaza: comments which Starmer has repeatedly and painfully tried to 'walk back' over the past fortnight. But it appears that the long-suffering Labour press office is yet to learn the lessons from Starmer Chameleon's media mishap.

Not all is rotten in the state of Scotland. For at least former member of Nicola Sturgeon’s ancien régime appears to have actually believed her talk of ‘openness’ and ‘transparency’. Step forward Kate Forbes, the former Finance Secretary now banished to the backbenches. Amid the ongoing palaver about the Scottish government’s missing WhatsApps, the one-time SNP leadership candidate has stepped forward to announce that she has retained all of her Covid WhatsApp messages – unlike, er, certain colleagues. Even more than that: she has already handed them to the Covid Inquiry. Two gold stars for Forbes! Hapless Humza could only dream of such competence… This being politics, Mr S could not help but wryly note the timing of Forbes’s declaration.

The mystery of the missing WhatsApps continues. Deputy First Minister Shona Robison took to the floor at Holyrood today to issue an update about the Scottish Government’s interactions with the UK Covid Inquiry. Amid ongoing concern about whether ministers deleted public records, Robison’s contributions don’t offer a whole lot of clarity… Addressing the Scottish parliament today, Robison said that all requested Scottish Government messages that are still ‘held’ will be shared ‘in full and unredacted’ by 6 November. Any deleted messages ‘will be for individuals to explain to the inquiries any actions they have taken in relation to records retention,’ she continued ominously.

The mystery of the missing WhatsApps gets murkier. The Scottish Sunday Mail revealed yesterday that Nicola Sturgeon ‘manually’ deleted WhatsApp messages from during the pandemic; her successor Humza Yousaf was one of the government figures who was reported as claiming that the relevant message data no longer exists. The First Minister denies this, however. ‘I’ve kept WhatsApp messages and fully intend to hand them over,’ Yousaf clarified today. The media debate now centres around whether the Scottish Government had a policy on social media messaging in place — and when exactly the messages of senior figures were deleted. Yousaf has today shed light on the first of these questions.

Another one bites the dust. In the latest blow to afflict the hapless Humza Yousaf, his onetime leadership rival Ash Regan has spectacularly defected to Alex Salmond’s Alba party at their annual conference. The Spectator pondered back in February whether Ash Regan was Alex Salmond in disguise. And now she appears to be his heir apparent… Salmond’s speech set the stage perfectly for Regan, a onetime SNP minister. Reminding his members that ‘there are many fine nationalists and many fellow Scots’ within the SNP, he told his party that ‘recruits from the SNP’ were needed if Alba wants to see success. Returning back to the podium after a standing ovation, he welcomed the party’s ‘latest recruit’.